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THE CUP of 
ELIJAH 

By 

EDWARD A. STEINER 

Author of 

**0n the Trail of the Immigrant''* 


O □ 





Wi 


New York 

Chicago 

Toronto 

> 

Fleming 

H. 

Revell 

Company 

London 

and Edinburgh 






Copyright, 1910, by 
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 


New York: 158 Fifth Avenue 
Chicago: 80 Wabash Avenue 
Toronto: 25 Richniond Street, W. 
London: 21 Paternoster Square 
Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street 


©CI.A259266 


□ DO 


□ DO 


□ n o 





Cup of Elijah 


THE PREPARATION 


THERE shall I put the 
chair for the Prophet 
Elijah, motherkin ? I 
was helping my mother prepare the 
Passover. This was no easy task, 
for the supper is a religious service 
as precise and solemn as high mass 
in a cathedral. 

“ Opposite the host and nearest 
the door, that he may step in and out 
unobserved,” my mother replied, a 
wee bit of a smile playing upon her 
sad face. It w'as sadder to-day than 







The Cup of Elijah 


usual, for the Passover is a family 
festival ; the father is the high 
priest and master of ceremonies, and 
my father was dead : so his brother, 
my pious Uncle Isaac, was to preside 
at the feast. 

With a deep sigh, mother placed 
the shining brass candlesticks. In 
their graceful curves I could see my 
elongated face, much to my amuse- 
ment. Then she arranged the dishes 
in their proper places, filling the huge 
pewter platter with unleavened bread 
which she covered with a bright cloth. 
On this in her maiden days, she had 
embroidered the triangular shield of 
David, and in Hebrew letters, the 
blessing spoken before the breaking 
of the bread. Then with skillful fin- 
gers she divided the portions of bit- 



ter herbs and knowing my aversion 
to them, she put at my plate the 
smallest quantity possible. 

“ Israel has had enough bitter 
herbs, in Egypt and out of it,*’ she 
said. “ I think the rabbis might 
have spared us this memorial. Do 
you hear those Gentile youths talk- 
ing? That is our bitter herbs, and 
we may get more of them than we 
can eat.” 

There was danger of a mob that 
night, for the entire Gentile com- 
munity was agitated over the alleged 
disappearance of a Gentile girl. Yet 
the Jews were hurrying past our 
house to the synagogue for the even- 
ing service. They were greeted by 
such pleasant words as : “ How many 
Gentile children have you slaugh- 



“The Cup of Elijah 


tered 1 ” “We’ll drive you back to 
Jerusalem, where you belong.” 

No, we did not belong here. In 
spite of the fact that generations of 
mothers reared their children in this 
valley of the Carpathians, and gener- 
ations of the young buried their aged 
in the God’s Acre at the edge of the 
far-stretching town, we were still 
strangers and sojourners. To live 
here was a privilege grudgingly 
granted, and although death re- 
garded neither Jew nor Gentile, our 
graves were dug in alien soil, and the 
God’s Acre stood in disputed territory. 
We were such strangers in the land of 
our birth, that as a child I scarcely knew 
the colour of the sky above me or the 
shape of the mountains which girdled 
the valley. The spring wind wakened 


'Mia 



flowers which never bloomed for me, 
and the song of the thrush and of 
the nightingale was drowned in the 
chirp of the sparrows and the cawing 
of the ravens, of which alone I was 
conscious, because every man’s hand 
was against them as it was against 


Mother did not wish me to go to 
the synagogue service, so I helped 
her with the Passover feast. After 
the doors were bolted and the win- 
dows barred, she brought out the 
silver goblets from which gener- 
ations of our ancestors had partaken 
of the Passover wine. With especial 
care, she unwrapped the richest and 
most massive one and giving it to 
me said : “ Put it at the prophet’s 
place.” It was his goblet and never 



The Cup of Elijah 

had been touched by the lips of a 
mortal. 

“ The Prophet Elijah,” my mother 
continued, more to herself than to 
me, “ is a guest whom we shall need 
to-night as never before.” Even 
while she spoke, a stone was hurled 
against the shutters, the concus- 
sion breaking several window-panes. 

“ Mother ! ” I cried in great fright, 
‘‘ are you sure that the prophet will 
come ? ” 

“ I am quite sure he will come,” 
she replied. ** I have never seen 
him, but he comes to every Jewish 
Passover feast and works his protect- 
ing miracles. He is the messenger 
of Jehovah, who thus assures us that 
as He once led us out of Egypt, so 
He will again lead us out of this cap- 





tivity to the Promised Land ; but I 
fear we shall have to eat a great 
many bitter herbs and drink the 
waters of Marah before we reach 
there.” 

I did not ask any more questions, 
for I knew her heart was heavy and I 
could see that she was not far from 
tears. She now lighted the candles, 
thanking God that He had thus com- 
manded, and then went to look after 
affairs in the kitchen ; for prayers 
and Psalms were to alternate with 
delicious soup, fish, and roast lamb 
with all its accompaniments. At 
least a week is spent in preparation 
for the Jewish Passover. The home 
must be cleansed from cellar to attic, 
that even the slightest particle of 
leaven be removed. House cleaning 



The Cup of Rlijah 


before the Passover is an exacting re- 
ligious ceremony, a marvellous pro- 
vision for an Oriental people to 
which personal cleanliness came as 
the fiat of heaven. 

My mother was a daughter of Israel, 
who “ looked well after the ways of her 
household, but as she lighted the 
match to set fire to the gathered 
leaven, I heard her say the usual 
prayer with great fervour. “We 
praise Thee, Lord our God, King of 
the whole world, for commanding us 
to burn the leaven.’* 

At last my uncle came, his three 
sons with him, and breathlessly they 
told of the gathering mob and of 
stones crashing through the syna- 
gogue windows. Yet in spite of all 
this apprehension, my uncle put on 






THE COMING OF THE 
PROPHET 


C LEARLY and triumphantly 
my uncle sang the jubilant 
notes of Israelis redemptive 
journey from Egypt to the Promised 
Land while the rest of us timidly 
chanted the amens and hallelujahs. 
The villagers, attracted by the service, 
had gathered in front of our house in 
increasing numbers. Stones began 
to fly against the shutters and a crow- 
bar was being applied to the bolts 
and hinges ; yet undisturbed, my 
uncle, this high priest of Jehovah, 

continued the service, while we, more 

12 


The Coming of the Prophet 


and more frightened, tremblingly 
chanted our parts. 

At a certain point in the service, 
just before drinking the wine, a door 
is opened to the Prophet Elijah. 
This was my task and I always 
felt it a somewhat awful one. Now 
when the critical moment came, I 
could not move. I seemed petrified 
by fear, for the crowd, growing impa- 
tient, was making a fierce assault 
upon our front door. Then, at the 
moment of greatest suspense, the 
miracle occurred. 

“ Hello, good Christians I ” cried a 
strong, resonant voice. “ Is this your 
Easter celebration ? Is this the way 
I the risen Lord has taught you to 
1 treat your neighbours ? ” 

“Your Reverence,*’ we heard one 





The Cup of Rlijah 


of the mob reply, ‘‘ they have slaugh- 
tered Anushka, the daughter of the 
stone-mason, and they are now drink- 
ing her blood out of silver goblets. 
We want to avenge her death.*’ 

“ You lie I It’s a black, dastardly 
lie I ” the voice replied. ’’ Go to the 
Black Eagle inn, and you will find 
your Anushka in the arms of the 
judge. Now drop that crowbar, you 
young brute, and go to the Black 
Eagle, and if it isn’t as I have told 
you, you may brand your pastor a 
liar. You youngsters, drop those 
stones and go home to your beds and 
thank God if you do not end your 
days in jail, you young ruffians ! ” 
Slowly the crowd dispersed and our 
fears were quieted. 

Then mother said to me : ‘‘ My 


"The Coming of the Prophet 


son, open the door for the Prophet 
Elijah.” Without fear I sprang to 
obey and a man passed over the 
threshold, a gentle-faced man who 
walked softly towards the Passover 
table as though afraid of disturbing 
us. We looked at him ingratitude 
and astonishment. 

‘‘ It is the pastor ! ” mother said, 
smiling her grateful welcome. “ Sit 
down ; ” and he sat down in the chair 
of the Prophet Elijah. Then mother 
said : ” Drink ; ” and he lifted the 
cup of the prophet reverently, glanc- 
ing at the Hebrew letters engraved 
upon it. His lips barely touched it 
and he put it down again. 

The pastor we knew only as a 
grave and gentle man who passed 
our house daily. He always greeted 
*5 


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I . 


:*''r J 


T/ie Cup of Elijah 

my mother and she acknowledged 
the greeting by her prettiest cour- 
tesy ; yet they had never spoken a 
word to each other. I had heard 
him preach in his church in my 
race unconscious days when, hidden 
among the bellows, I pumped the 
organ, and I knew the quality of 
his voice. I never knew what he 
preached about, or that his religion 
and ours had anything in common. 

My uncle knew not what to do. 
Grateful he was for this timely inter- 
ruption. Yet I think he would rather 
have been torn by the mob than have 
a Christian pastor interrupt our 
Passover service, sit in the hal 
lowed seat of the prophet and drink 
from his cup, too sacred even for our 
lips. Mingled gratitude and dis- 





The Coming of the Prophet 

pleasure were written on his face. 
The pastor rose and apologizing for 
his intrusion, said : 

“ I came in to tell you that the 
mob has gone and that I have 
found the girl whose disappearance 
caused all this trouble. I also wanted 
to tell you that I tried hard to keep 
the people from gathering ; but I 
could do nothing to prevent it until 
I found Anushka. Of course you 
know that our religion does not teach 
hatred of the Jews.*’ 

My uncle, who had visibly shrunk 
from the pastor while he was speak- 
ing, ' said : “ But, your Reverence, 
you have been sitting in the chair of 
our Prophet Elijah and drinking from 
his cup ! ** 

** I drink of a cup like this at every 





• j 


The Cup of Elijah 

Passover celebration in my church/* 
the pastor replied. ** It is a cup hal- 
lowed by the lips of One greater than 
Elijah, One who believed that there 
should be no hate or war among 
God's children, and who gave His 
life to seal that truth.” 

** But there still is war, your Rev- 
erence, and there still is hate, and 
they are ready to kill us.” 

“ I cannot answer for the mob, 
Isaac Bolsover, I can only speak for 
myself. I have faced a dozen mobs 
to-day to save your people, because 
this Prophet who was greater than 
Elijah has taught me to love my 
neighbours and even my enemies. I 
am here to-night in obedience to His 
command of love. I preach it, and 
I trust you believe that I practice it. 

i8 

5rT3T=r*=»*i 

□ DO 




□ DO 

□ □ O 



I certainly did to-night. Some day 
all men are going to obey this com- 
mand.” 

“You did that for our sakes ? For 
Israel’s sake ? ” asked my uncle with 
much feeling. “ Then sit down.” 

The pastor lifted the prophet’s cup, 
saying : “ Isaac Bolsover, some day 
I hope we will be able to drink out of 
the same cup, in the kingdom of 
God.” Then he sat down. 

With wide-open eyes I watched 
this man who spoke a new language ; 
a man of alien faith and blood, yet 
who spoke the things which were 
music to my young soul. He was 
not handsome, this Slavic pastor ; 
yet that night he seemed to me 
supremely beautiful. My uncle’s the- 
ological interest had been aroused, 
19 




The C up of E/ij ah 


and closing the prayer-book, open 
before him, he asked : ** Your Rev- 
erence, what do you mean by the 
kingdom of God ? 

“ I mean,^^ the pastor answered, 
“ that a day will come when all the 
scattered shall be gathered again ; 
when no barriers of race and religion 
shall divide ; when the strong shall 
serve the weak, the rich shall succour 
the poor and when the chief delight 
of men will be to do the will of God. 
Then the word of the prophet shall 
be fulfilled, when he said : And many 
people shall go and say. Come ye, 
and let us go up to the mountain of 
the Lord, to the house of the God of 
Jacob ; and He will teach us His 
ways and we will walk in His paths : 



T^he Coming of the Prophet 

and the word of the Lord from Jeru- 
salem. And He shall judge among 
the nations, and shall rebuke many 
people : and they shall beat their 
swords into ploughshares and their 
spears into pruning-hooks ; nation 
shall not lift up sword against nation, 
neither shall they learn war any 
more.*^ 

** That is our Prophet Yesias, whom 
you are quoting,” exclaimed my 
uncle. ” Do you know what the 
rabbis say? Why that day of the 
Lord has not come? Let me tell you.” 

The pastor had risen, but he sat 
down again, and my uncle began his 
story from the Talmud, and being a 
Talmudist, he swayed back and forth 
in rhythmic motion as the words of 
simple eloquence passed his lips. 




“ Rabbi Chamina, son of Pappa, 
taught thus : One day, the Holy 
One, blessed be His name, took the 
book of the law and said : 

“ ‘ Every nation which has wrought 
for the sake of the fulfillment of the 
law may now appear before me and 
receive its reward. 

“ ‘ Then all the nations gathered 
together and the Holy One, blessed 
be His name, spoke, saying: Let 
them come nation by nation, and the 
nation which is the worthiest shall 
receive the reward and shall lead the 
nations of the world, that they may 
become one nation. 

‘‘ ‘ The Assyrian nation came first, 
because it is the most ancient ; and 
the Lord asked the Assyrians, 
What have you done to receive this 


Xljizr 

□ DD 

□ □ □ 
□ □ D 


"The Coming of the Prophet 

reward of leading the nations of the 
earth, that they may become one? 
And they said, Lord of heaven and 
earth, we swept the earth with the 
besom of fury and broke the nations 
to pieces with the hammer of Thy 
wrath. We carved our name upon 
the hearts of men by fear, and chis- 
elled upon the rocks with tools of iron, 
and we did it all that we might fulfill 
Thy law. And the Lord answered 
them and said. Ye have swept the 
earth with your fury that men might 
fear you ; ye have broken the nations 
to exult in your own strength, and 
ye have carved your name upon the 
hearts of men and upon the rocks 
that it may not be forgotten, but I 
am the Lord whom the nations shall 

fear, and ye were not afraid of Me, 
23 



W/Q □ D 
Q □ □ 




"The Cup of Rlijah 

saith the Lord. And the Assyrians 
left the presence of the Almighty 
trembling and sighing. 

“ ‘ The Roman nation came next be- 
cause it is the mightiest and its fame 
is carried over the whole earth. And 
the Lord asked the Romans, What 
have you done to deserve this reward 
of leading the nations of the earth ? 

“ ‘ And they said : Lord, we have 
established many cities and have 
destroyed many ; we have built mar- 
ket-places to buy and to sell ; we have 
erected magnificent bathing-places 
and have heaped up silver and gold, 
and all this for the sake of fulfilling 
the law. 

***And the Holy One, praised be 
His name, answered them, saying: 
Ye fools of this world! Ye have 

24 


□ OD 

□ O Q 
O □ O 



The Coming of the Prophet 

done all this for your own sakes. Ye 
have established cities for your own 
glory and market-places for your own 
enrichment ; ye have built baths for 
your own sensuous enjoyment and 
have heaped the silver and the gold 
for yourselves ; but the gold and the 
silver are Mine, and ye have not 
brought them unto Me. 

**‘And the Romans left the pres- 
ence of the Almighty, and the Per- 
sians appeared, and the Lord asked 
them, saying : Ye Persians, what 
have ye done to receive the reward 
of leading the nations of the earth to 
become one nation? 

‘‘ ‘ And they answered Him, saying : 
Lord of the world, we have built 
bridges and fortresses and have fought 
many bloody battles; we have led 
25 



nations captive and wiped them from 
the face of the earth — all, that we 
might fulfill the law. 

** ‘ And the Lord answered them : 
Ye have done all this for yourselves. 
Ye have built bridges to gather the 
toll, and fortresses to exact tribute; 
but I am the God of war, and ye 
have never made Me the captain of 
your hosts. 

‘“And the Persians left the pres- 
ence of the Almighty with fear and 
trembling. 

“ ‘ Then the Greeks appeared before 
Jehovah, and He asked them, saying : 
What have ye done to deserve this 
reward ? And the Greeks answered 
Him and said : Lord of heaven and 
earth, we have built costly temples 
upon the mountains and planted 


The Cup of Elijah 


The Coming of the Prophet 


groves in the valleys and filled them 
with beauty. We emptied the cup 
of wisdom and filled it with the wine 
of joy, all that we might fulfill Thy 
law. Then the Lord answered them : 
Ye have built the temples for the 
creatures of your imagination ; ye 
have filled the silence of the groves 
with the children of your passion. 
Ye have drained the cup of wisdom 
and filled it with the wine of pleasure, 
and ye have forgotten that I am the 
God of wisdom, and that in doing 
My will is pleasure for the soul. And 
the Greeks also went away, and shame 
and confusion covered them. 

‘“So the Lord gathered all the na- 
tions and found none which had done 
aught because it wanted to fulfill the 
law. All had lived, struggled, fought 


The Cup of Elijah 


and heaped up wealth to satisfy their 
own selfish desires.’ 

** The words of the prophet,” my 
uncle concluded, ‘‘shall not be ful- 
filled until a nation arises which lives 
to do His will, which obeys His law ; 
which if it creates cities, creates them 
for His glory ; if it builds bridges, 
builds them to serve Him better ; if it 
goes to war, goes to liberate the 
oppressed.” 

“ There is such a nation, Isaac 
Bolsover,” the pastor said, evidently 
astonished by this quotation from the 
Talmud so eloquently elaborated by 
my uncle, — “just one. It has fought 
a great war to liberate slaves, it pro- 
fesses to build cities to His glory ; it 
receives all the strangers who come to 
it, when they flee from the wrath of the 



□ OD\^ 

□ □ D 

□ DO 



^ The Coming of the Prophet 

mob or the avenger. That nation is 
America. It is far away from us and 
we know little about it ; but I believe 
it is the nation which will keep itself 
worthy to receive the reward, and 
that it will lead the nations into 
brotherhood. 

“ Good-night,” he said, rising from 
the prophet’s chair, with the prophet’s 
glow upon his face. “ May you have 
a peaceful Passover, and remember 
that the prophet’s word shall be ful- 
filled.” 

I had never seen my uncle so erect 
as when he stood to say good-bye to 
the pastor. For a moment he seemed 
caught by a great current, which lifted 
him from his isolation into a large 
world movement. “Good-night, and 
may God reward you for the kind- 






-V J 


The Cup of Elijah 

ness you have done to Israel this 
night.” 

I held out my hand to the pastor 
and he took it gently ; it was a soft 
hand, almost like the hand of a woman, 
but its touch was full of throbbing life, 
and by a sudden impulse I kissed it. 

Hardly had the pastor gone, when 
my uncle resumed his chanting and 
read the closing prayers. Sleepily 
but happily we responded with halle- 
lujahs and amens. 

Before he left us my uncle pointed 
to the cup of Elijah and said to my 
mother : “ That wine is unclean and 
so is the cup. The lips of a Gentile 
have touched it.” 

Ah, mother of mine ! how she rose 
in her gentle, womanly dignity as she 
replied : “ He had a right to drink 



□ O D 

□ □ O 



The Slavic peasant pastor rests 
among those whom he bedded for the 
last sleep. It was a reeling, drunken 
generation of men among whom he 
laboured, “ of the earth, earthy.” 
Half starved, ground beneath heavy 
burdens, roused out of their lethargy 
only by wrecking, fiery drink, they 
31 


T^he Coming of the Prophet 


from it. Was he not our Prophet 
Elijah, and was he not sent from 
Jehovah to deliver us ? ” 

When my uncle had gone and I 
was in bed, my eyes almost closed in 
sleep, my mother came to me, bear- 
ing in both hands the cup of Elijah. 

” Drink from this cup, my son,” 
she said ; ” for the lips of a living 
prophet have touched it ” — and I 
drank from the cup of Elijah. 



T^he Cup of Rlijah 


lived their little lives, unconscious of 
the larger fields to which their pas- 
tor would have led them. 

We never met again, and he does 
not know that we both drank from 
the prophet’s cup and that we shall 
drink together from another cup “ In 
the Father’s kingdom.” 

The dear mother they laid away in 
the Jewish Acropolis, hedged in by 
a high wall from the contaminating 
huts of the Gentiles. They made 
her grave on top of the hill, where it 
can be seen from the farthermost 
edge of the valley ; and as in life so 
in death, hers is the larger vision. 
” She died in faith ; not having re- 
ceived the promises, but having seen 
them afar off.” 

Whenever my faith wavers and my 



^ The Coming of the Prophet 


vision grows narrow, I recall her at 
my bedside, like a messenger from 
on high, holding in both hands the 
cup of the prophet. I can feel her 
warm pressure as she held it to my 
lips and bade me drink. She never 
put her creed into words ; yet she 
made me believe in the oneness of 
the human race and in the triumph 
of the brother spirit over oppression 
and war. 

I never touch the sacramental cup, 
consecrated by the lips of Him who 
loved this human race as no man 
ever loved it, without seeing the 
humble pastor-prophet, and hearing 
him say; “There is a nation which 
will be found worthy to lead the na- 
tions into brotherhood, and that nation 
is America.” 

33 




V 




i 


111 

A POSTSCRIPT 

I T is hard to keep this faith strong 
in the tumult of our cities and 
in the grime and grind of labour 
and traffic, in which man counts as 
nothing and men of alien races, less 
than nothing. It is hard to keep 
one's faith, in a country where many 
wrongs are practised against the weak, 
where childhood and womanhood are 
exploited and where mobs go raging 
through the streets. Yet I believe 
with a firmer faith than ever in Al- 
mighty God, and I love Him with all 
my heart and soul and mind and 
strength. I believe in Jesus Christ, 
His Son, born in the travail of 


□ OD 

□ O D 

□ no 



A Postscript 


woman’s agony, living in Galilee and 
, Judea, going about doing good, heal- 
ing broken bodies and wounded souls, 
stilling the tempest of the raging sea, 
lifting little babes into His arms and 
forever blessing childhood ; touching 
polluted woman and making of her 
who was a slave, a sister and a co- 
worker in all the affairs of His king- 
dom ; consorting with sinners and 
Samaritans, thus breaking the bar- 
riers of caste, class and race. His 
reward was the spear-thrust, the 
nail-prints, the thorn-crown and the 
tomb ; the reward of those who see 
the truth and speak it, who discern 
the will of God and do it. I believe 
that He is risen and that God has 
not been bereft of His Son or earth 




V 



He lives in the faith of the weak, 
in the hope of the bereaved and in 
the aspirations of those who believe 
that His kingdom will come, that 
His kingdom must come. 

Yes, and I believe in America and 
her noble band of men and women 
who are labouring without wage, to 
liberate children from fruitless toil, 
and women from hopeless slavery ; 
who are opening the doors of hos- 
pitals and asylums to the sick, the 
aged and the weary ; who are striv- 
ing with unswerving faith for a 
better day for all mankind, when the 
gentle hand of the Father shall have 
wiped away the last, hopeless tears 
from the eyes of His suffering chil- 
dren. 

In all those things which make a 

36 


"The Cup of Klijah 



A Postscript 


nation great in the eyes of the God 
of nations, and worthy to receive His 
reward, I believe ; and I bid all men 
and women this day to go out in that 
faith commissioned by the Most High ; 
and “ give unto them beauty for ashes, 
the oil of joy for mourning, the gar- 
ment of praise for the spirit of heavi- 
ness ; that they might be called the 
trees of righteousness.” 

In being tossed between the Old 
World and the New, on ships which 
bore the raw material for a greater 
America, I have found my chief de- 
light in watching the breaking down 
of the lower walls which divide the 
human race into alien factions. 

To test the fusing process, I have 
stimulated their Old World patriotism 
by starting the national anthems. 



which from childhood had aroused 
their reverence for the king, and love 
for their native land. These martial 
notes stirred in them old loves and 
old hates, they heard in them the din 
of battle and felt the terror of invad- 
ing armies. 

At such a time it was my joy to 
have some child sing that national 
hymn which tells of but one monarch, 
the Heavenly Father ; of but one 
throne, the mountains ; and of but 
one struggle, the struggle for liberty. 

I have seen these aliens become 
brothers in heart, under the spell of 
that inspiring anthem ; it moved their 
souls and won the allegiance of their 
better spirit, and there came to me a 
gratitude greater than I could ex- 
press, except in the noble strains of 

38 


"The Cup of Elijah ^ 



A Postscript 

one who has drunk from the cup of 
the prophet. 

“ Oh, beautiful for patriot dream 
That sees beyond the years 
Thine alabaster cities gleam 
Undimned by human tears ! 

America ! America ! 

God shed His grace on thee, 

And crown thy good with brotherhood 
From sea to shining sea ! ” 


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